Gartner predicts top 10 mobile applications in 2012

The world may end in 2012, but Gartner has an idea what the top ten consumer mobile applications will be for that year. Gartner’s prediction for 2012 is based on a number of factors including revenue, loyalty, business, consumer value and estimated market penetration. It turns out that the Mayan calendar had no influence on their selection for the year.

Gartner went on to say in their statement that they predict most users will use no more than five mobile apps at one time. The research firm’s finding are detailed in the report, “Dataquest Insight: The Top Ten Consumer Mobile Applications for 2012” which is available via the Gartner website.

If you were like me you may have been a little surprised money transfer apps made the top of the list. Not far behind is mobile payment in the number six slot. It seems Gartner believes that the market will finally begin to open up to the idea of using your mobile phone like a charge card. Considering you carry your mobile phone with you everywhere it makes perfect sense to make the phone a tool in commerce, but developers and solution providers will need to overcome any security fears consumers may have to make this a reality.

Three other applications listed that have close ties are mobile search, browsing and advertising. These are targets that both Google and Microsoft have their eye on. Both companies have entered into exclusive agreements with carriers and handset manufacturers to increase their market share in these three areas. You can expect the battle to get bloodier as we get closer to 2012.

Two applications I found surprising to be at the bottom of the list were instant messaging and music. At one time I believed that instant messaging might takeover SMS. It looks like SMS will remain firmly in place. In regards to mobile music, I would have thought that mobile music apps would have taking off on mobile phones. Continuing to put more music on mobile device is simply furthering convergence between media players and mobile phones.

In the end, Gartner nor anyone else really has a crystal ball. It is a guess based on scientific reasoning. Considering how fast technology changes there could be a new application category that makes the list in 2012 that has not even been created yet.